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Fido Launches New Broadband Wireless Access
bug-eyed monster writes "Fido is launching a new wireless internet service with 'Download at speeds of up to 2.2 Mbps,' in Richmond BC and Cumberland ON. It uses a special modem that plugs into a regular network card. The technology providers' websites, Microcell and Inukshuk, inform us that the service uses Multipoint Communications Systems (radio-based) in the 2500 MHz range. The modem can be used anywhere within Richmond and 'up to 2.5km away from any network base station' (no idea if it can also run on batteries). Of course, this is all torture for me since I live next-door in Vancouver, just out of reach of the network."
I think FidoNet. And then I get sad.
"Now The People Will Know We Were Here."
I'm more and more impressed with Fido as time goes on. For those of you who aren't on the West Coast of Canada, Fido's cell plan is something like $45 per month, unlimited local calls. I'm not sure what other cell plans are like in the US, but for Canada, Fido's the first to try anything like that... makes it easy to simply replace your landline with a cell for not much more $$.
This won't satisfy most /. readers. The CAN$40 a monthly fee only covers 20 GB down and 5 GB up. Extra GBs cost CAN$10 each.
No restrictions in dense areas such as urban centers, since you could always route around a full AP, and free as in not having to pay some ISP by becoming you're very own.
I currently have the only AP for at least 4-5 blocks, it would be great if I had geeky neighbors who'd like to give it a try. I'm sure this idea is as old as dirt by now, but it was the first thing I thought of when I read this.
Also note that data transfer costs $10/gigabyte after the first 20GB (down) or 5GB (up) in a month.
Personally, I think it should be considered false advertising to advertise "up to" anything. Vendors should have to provide a guaranteed minimum.
No fair my ass. If what you meant by your comment is that those living in areas with a higher population density greater deserve the opportunity to participate in the trials then recognize that the point of this pilot is do the opposite.
:)
Case in point: Richmond is a sprawl of low-density housing comprised of [1-3] floor dwelling units and an almost perfectly flat topography. These qualities allow the first phase of the public trial to expose the benefits and shortcomings of the non-LOS system that iFido uses while not biting off a larger customer base than they can chew.
By doing the inverse (high population density, rolling topography) these companies would have a larger-than-they-can-handle trial customer base (given that anyone within the reach of the signal can sign up) and more urban jungle + rolling hills. That is not a recipe for getting the trial off the ground; indeed it is a recipe for a difficult trial that would most possibly end in failure. Further, if they allowed a limited number of participants, then that is plain bad customer relations for those who attempt to sign up but are rejected because the quota has already been met (customers are fickle creatures)...
Don't like it? Move!
I saw this -
$20 per month for the first 6 months (regular price: $40 per month)
and thought, damn that's really good for 2.2mbps down wireless internet, then I saw
Monthly transfer: up to 20 GB (download) and 5 GB (upload)
I wouldn't want any kind of internet that gives you limits. I don't know how often I'd use 20GB a month but I'm sure it's very often (lots of bittorent downloading, websites full of flash animations and streaming video, and even games.) If you play UT 2K3 for just 4 hours a day, 25 days a month (that's like coming home from school or work, and playing a few hours) that's around 2 gigs or 1/10th your total bandwidth, for something that uses hardly any bandwidth (around 5-6K/sec and remember there's also hundreds of mutators on like every server and then 10 meg maps.) And how's the upload speed? Latency? I dunno I like the idea of having a wireless ISP and it'd be really cool for a laptop, I don't think this should be uses as your main ISP alone.
The above sounds good, but I'm more worried about the small prints:
"The monthly price is for data transfer of up to 20 GB (download) and 5 GB (upload). A charge of $10 applies per additional GB per month. If you didn't opt for a 24-month Fido Agreement, you're eligible for a smaller discount and your service must remain activated for 90 consecutive days."
20GB/5GB should be enough for anyone really using it as a 2nd connection, but considering the price (40$/month after the 6th month), most people will want to use this as their primary connection and better watch out for extra charges (although people using cable might already be used to those transfer limits).
The whole package seems like a nice deal anyway, but I'm kind of worried about the saturation of frequencies these days...
>> Of course, this is all torture for me since I live next-door in Vancouver, just out of reach of the network."
Two Words...
Names, actually...
Yagi - Uda
Many years ago, these two Nipponese rf engineers designed a nifty, easy to build yourself, high gain antenna, that at the frequencies you need, is quite a small package.
You see them all over, they look like sideways, one dimensional xmas trees. They are made in many sizes, for different frequencies.
They are however, mostly line of sight, with increasing signal attenuation (crappier signal) if the path is blocked by anything, like mountians, buildings, big trees, etc..
Don't give up hope. Experiment a little, and see if you can't connect to their network.
You may even be able to find a techy inside the company, who is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty, and help you out, over time, to see if you can make the connection.
Don't give up, go for it!
I am on Fido in Greater Vancouver -- Richmond is a part of the area, and Fido's reception is varying. I go to Richmond on a bi-weekly basis, and it gets a bit irritating that sometimes when I enter certain buildings, my reception drops considerably, sometimes to the point where it is unusable.
Fido (Microcell) uses GSM, which most likely means that this service is GPRS-based, which works on the same waveband if I remember right. They're notorious for offering awesome packages, but pitiful reception in certain areas.
I hope that if they're going to introduce this service that they actually improve the signal quality, because it isn't GSM that is the problem -- Rogers AT&T Wireless uses the same system, but it is the fact that there isn't enough nodes for me to connect to.
I am a very happy Fido customer regardless, but there are times where the reception blackouts do piss me off.
What river separates China from India?
The Fraser.
Richmond/Delta, get it? Yeah, it's not the best joke and anyone from Vancouver has probably heard it a thousand times...
Whooooosh...there's the sound of evaporating karma.
These kinds of service are not even close to being new. There is a service here locally that has wireless internet, and they have been operating for the past three years. Why is slashdot covering a press release from an ISP web page anyway? Mod me down, troll, but its been my experience that these pages/ads are 90% hype , 5% marketing, and 5% service agreement. The only thing somewhat interesting about this is that this is non-directional, and the local service in my town just rolled out non-directional modems only six months ago. On second though, not very interesting at all. Move along, nothing to see here.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
If you are in the state of Virginia, USA. There is a 3 MBit wireless host called:
http://www.r-comm.net/
They are friendly fellas and their rates are comparable with DSL pricing. Nice if you are out in the sticks.